How to detect a psychopath?
The psychopath can greatly harm people with whom he deals, but what distinguishes him is that he is not aware of the damage he causes. He is also incapable of loving and feeling guilty…
Do you lack empathy?
…But, also for this reason, he is a very good manipulator of other people’s feelings. He is unable to appreciate the pain he inflicts on others. He is aware of what he does, but not of the consequences that his actions have on others. Therefore, psychopathy is a serious personality disorder, but difficult to perceive in others.
Because?
Because the psychopath is very skilled at manipulating others and that includes the systems and their controls: psychiatrists, psychologists and the entire health system, the justice system and the prison system.
If you manipulate it, it is not easy to detect?
On the contrary, psychopathy is often confused with other madness. The psychopath is not crazy: he is aware of what he does, but not of the damage he does. And he’s not always violent.
Don’t you usually end up committing crimes?
That is the big question in legal psychology: whether or not psychopaths are responsible for their actions, and I would tell you that, unlike those who suffer a psychotic episode or a serious mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, psychopaths are indeed responsible for their actions.
But do they know good from bad? The legal from the illegal?
In the US, the legal system believes so: that they are criminally responsible; but it is also true that some of my fellow mental health experts believe that they are not.
How many psychopaths are there?
Its prevalence? Well, in society as a whole we believe that they are 1%; but among the prison population, the percentage rises to 20%, and also among those who quickly climb positions in a company the percentage increases…
How much?
Some estimates speak of 10% among senior executives, but in the long term that percentage drops because they end up being detected and stopped in their career…
How many are there among executives?
And especially sales executives. For some reason they tend to be good sellers…
Teach us to distinguish them.
To distinguish a psychopath, look at their interpersonal and affective characteristics and, above all, their sociopathies…
Can you be more specific?
The psychopath tends to be charming, manipulative, deceitful and arrogant… And be careful: psychopaths are egotistical, but they know how to pretend to forget themselves in favor of their victims when it suits them to use them. They are very seductive…
Does that make them more dangerous?
…And that is why it can be difficult to identify them.
What to observe to detect them quickly?
Your emotional responses.
For example?
For someone normal, an emotion usually lasts for a while, and if it is intense, even longer. The psychopath, on the other hand, usually feels less and for less time any emotion…
Well, I look at that and I already detect it.
…Unless the observed psychopath is aware of his observation and feigns emotions like ours: when we are sad we seek understanding from others; if we are happy, we want to share it, and if we need help, we look for it… They don’t.
Are they self-sufficient?
They simply do not feel the same as other humans, nor in the same way.
Don’t they have emotions?
They have superficial, quick, changeable emotions… In psychopathic convicts it is difficult to detect sincere repentance: they are incapable. And they compulsively seek stronger and faster emotions.
They are intelligent?
Like everyone: there are very intelligent and there are less.
Do they inherit or contract their psychopathy? Is the psychopath born or made?
We believe that 50% of its traits are inherited as a predisposition, but there is 50% due to supervening causes such as trauma, abuse or abandonment. And especially, if that damage is suffered by being babies or very young.
Are there really 10% of top executives with psychopath traits?
It is an estimate: the truth is that I personally do not believe that psychopathy is an advantage in any job. And in the long run, psychopaths with power are often detected.
How to protect ourselves from them?
They have a special ability to locate their victims by the way they walk.
Can a psychopath be cured?
Difficult, because they are not aware of their psychopathy, but in Australia there are teams obtaining good results, especially in children with psychopathic traits.
